Blind Tiger bar owner gets planning approval for new food and drink venue near Ferry Meadows in Peterborough

The owner of a popular craft beer bar in Peterborough was delighted to receive planning approval for a new venue in the city.

Neil Treliving, the man behind the city centre’s Blind Tiger bar in Cowgate, is opening a new bar and restaurant in the former Rutland Cycling store near Ferry Meadows Country Park.

He hopes that the new venue, named Blind Tiger Taproom and Kitchen, will be transformed within six weeks and open to customers in time for the summer holidays.

Mr Treliving said: “We’ve been working on stuff off-site for a while so it’s been waiting basically. We put in the planning application last year so we’ve had quite a lot of time to think about it.”

Unlike the existing Blind Tiger, the new venue will serve hot and cold food such as cheese boards and freshly cooked hand-stretched pizzas.

“It will be a bit more cosy with a few sofas and it’s a lot bigger so we’ll have a lot more space to play with,” said Mr Treliving.

“We’ll probably have a section that looks similar to what we have at the bar now, but then we’ll have cosy sections and sections for the food.”

There were originally plans for leisure activities upstairs such as crazy golf and an escape room, but Mr Treliving said these had been temporarily shelved after some pushback from the council.

He said: “The objective is to get the bar and restaurant open as soon as possible and then we’re going to work on the leisure activities a bit further down the line.”

The Nene Park Trust and nearby Orton Meadows golf club supported the planning application, which was approved by Peterborough City Council on May 23.

Mr Treliving said he is looking forward to meeting new customers and welcoming his current ones.

Blind Tiger Taproom and Kitchen will build on the reputation of his successful city centre bar which opened in 2021 and is the biggest of its type in the area, with 28 taps and an extensive cocktail and wine menu.